Chag Purim
by Tatsurou-san
Summary: A sequel - of sorts - to 'Winter Celebrations'. Raven begins to open up a bit more about her religious life, and invites her friends to tag along.


Chag Purim

One day in spring, the Titans were surprised when Raven came out of her room in what looked very much like a blue ball gown. They all sat up and stared. Robin was the first to speak up.

"Uh, Raven...what's with the dress?"

"Yeah," Cyborg said. "Halloween's at the other end of the year."

"Friend Raven," Starfire asked, "are you going on 'the date'?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "I'm going to services." At their stares of mixed shock and vonfusion, she sighed. "Religious services."

Beast Boy got up. He had looked surprised at the dress, but not at the mention of services. "Can I tag along?" he asked.

She smiled at him. "If you can get in costume in the next ten minutes and behave yourself."

He nodded and dashed to his room. Five minutes later, he was back...as the Beast.

Raven blinked for a time, then smiled. "Did you pick that look as a joke, or to match me?"

Beast Boy stroked the blue doublet that he had found to fit this form, and grunted. Raven laughed. Turning, she saw the others staring, and Starfire looking eager. She sighed.

"Same rules apply to all of you if you want to tag along...just no questions."

Starfire squealed and flew to her room, bringing back costumes for everyone.

As they approached the synagouge, Raven examined her friends. She was dressed as Belle, and Raven was a green Disney Beast. Starfire was a witch of all things, and Robin was dressed as Zorro. Cyborg was the original Terminator model, complete with battle damage.

"Okay," she said to them all. "We're here for Purim services. In addition to the regular service, my congregation also has a costume contest for the younger kids, and I usually get roped in to judge. I also sit with the youngsters during the service." The look she gave them dared them to comment. When they didn't, she continued. "You'll hear most of the story as part of the service, but just one thing you need to know. When you hear the name Haman mentioned, make noise. Boo and the like." She turned. "Come on, we don't want to be late. The contest is before the main service."

Inside, Raven was almost immediately swarmed under by the youngest members of the congregation. A surprising number of the little girls were dressed up as Raven, and they were all clamoring for her attention. At first, Beast Boy made them nervous, but he tried to make himself likeable, even though he couldn't talk. Raven jokingly telling one of the girls, "He's my Beast," helped smooth that over well.

The costume contest was fun. The winner was a young girl who was almost overlooked, until Beast Boy pushed her out in front. Her name was Rachel, and she was dressed up as Raven, but the moment she saw everyone was watching her, she had the hood pulled up over her face, hiding. Raven decided she deserved the victory for being 'so in character.'

The service went well. Beast Boy wound up sitting with Raven amongst the kids. Robin and the others were further back, listening to explanations from other members of the congregation. THings went well up until the first mention of Haman.

When the Rabbi mentioned Haman, a blood-curdling roar echoed over all the other noise everyone was making. WHen it passed, everyone stared at Beast Boy. He stood, staring around, then crouched down next to Raven, letting out a purling whine.

Sighing, Raven magicked one of the kids noise makers over to him. "Just use the gragger," she said, sighing.

He gave it a pathetic shake, releasing the grating noise. The kids around him giggled.

By the end of services, some of the youngest kids had fallen asleep in comfortable spots. Rachel was curled up on Beast Boy's left shoulder, and other kids festooned him, clinging to fur or cloth and lightly snoring. A very young child dressed as Beast Boy was curled up in Raven's lap.

Raven almost didn't remember anything else the rest of that night. One of the elderly women of the congregation had looked at them sitting there, festooned with kids dressed as them, and had said, "Aw, look at them. They'll make such good parents someday."

That thought went with Raven all the way home. 


End file.
